


Multiverse Sage Episode 3: The Missing Cats

by ZoidsFanatic



Series: Multiverse Series [3]
Category: Code Geass, Strike Witches, Zoids (Anime & Toys), ネコぱら | Nekopara (Visual Novel)
Genre: Action, Crack Crossover, Crime, Crossover, Gen, Mystery, Original Character(s), vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25922650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoidsFanatic/pseuds/ZoidsFanatic
Summary: On their first real mission, the trio is tasked with finding cat girls that have gone missing. Van is the only one weirded out by this, but soon their simple mission takes a deadly turn.
Series: Multiverse Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881016
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Multiverse Sage Episode 3: The Missing Cats

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to episode 3! You’ll need to read the previous episodes to understand what’s going on.

**Episode 3: The Missing Cats**

Despite the promise of "striking from the shadows" and all that other flattery language Lelouch provided, Van didn't exactly think his first "real mission" would involve cats. But, that's what Lelouch had dragged him and Yoshika into. A hunt for cats. How or even why Lelouch got the tip-off someone had their cats go missing the two didn't know. All they knew that the client was apparently wealthy given the house she lived in. Dressed in a pink kimono and with blue hair cut in a bowl cut this girl was named Shigure Minazuki. Her English was very poor, which is why Yoshika was there, translating her sobs and pleas to Van and Lelouch.

"She says that the last time her cats were seen was a few days ago." Yoshika translated, Shigure nodding profusely. "Their names are Chocola, Vanilla, Coconut, Azuki, Maple, Cinnamon, and Cacao."

"OK." Van said. "So, seven missing cats." He folded his arms and sighed. It wasn't that he didn't feel bad for Shigure, losing a family pet was a big deal, but he didn't know exactly why he had to be the one helping. His heroic traits involved saving the world, not cats. "Can she give us a description of them? Coat color? Food they like? Where they usually visited? Were they outside or inside cats? Was a predator on the prowl?" Van asked. Yoshika translated what he was saying to Shigure.

"She says she has a picture." Yoshika replied as Shigure went to her trusted scrapbook and pulled out a picture of her and her beloved felines, handing it to Yoshika who handed it to Van. He looked at the picture, rubbed his eyes, looked at the picture again and turned to Lelouch.

"May I have a quick word with you?"

"Sure." Lelouch replied while Van practically dragged him into the hallway.

"What. The. And. _Fuck_?" Van nearly screamed at Lelouch, doing his best to not actually scream. He shoved the photo in the others' face. "Cats? Cats! Where in this picture are any cats?"

"Well, right there." Lelouch pointed at the seven girls surrounding Shigure.

"Those are people wearing cat ears." Van corrected him.

"No." Lelouch shook his head. "In this world cats are in fact humans." Lelouch said that sentence with a completely straight face.

"So… in this world. There is a race of people with cat ears who are treated as pets by regular people?"

"That is correct."

"Basically slavery."

"No." Lelouch shook his head. "They're treated like pets."

"Basically slavery." Van repeated himself.

"To us, yes. But it's different here." Lelouch replied. "Look, Van, if you want to work in other worlds, you'll need to accept that they have different customs and traditions." Lelouch did have a point, but it was still a stupid point in Van's opinion. A world where an entire race is treated as little more than pets. It was sickening really. It was no time for moral debates, though, as they had to figure out how the "cats" went missing. Returning to Yoshika and Shigure, she explained everything about her beloved "pets". Which still made Van sour in his stomach, but he bit his tongue. Lelouch stood there, nodding his head, taking in all the information provided to him. He already had a good idea what happened, and it was an idea he hated to admit.

"I think I know what happened." Lelouch said after Yoshika was done translating for Shigure. "The girls were kidnapped by an inter-dimensional cat girl trafficking ring and will be sold into slavery!" The room was silent, all eyes fixed on Lelouch.

"Lelouch." Van said. "Understand I'm saying this not out of anger, but because I'm worried about you. I'mma going to slap _the shit_ out of you."

"No. No." Lelouch backed away from Van. "Hear me out. I'm not the only one who can jump worlds. There are others, entire organizations even. Inter-dimensional trafficking is quite real." Van and Yoshika still stared at Lelouch, perplexed. Shigure stared at the three mainly because she had no idea what they were saying but given Lelouch's elaborate poses and arm waving it must be serious. Though Van did have to admit that an inter-dimensional trafficking ring did make some sense in the context of this multiverse. Which isn't to say much actual logical sense.

"OK, so let's just assume what you said is right." Van replied. "Any idea how we'd find them? After all, like you said, these girls are treated as pets. Wouldn't it be a case of, ya know, pet kidnap?"

"No." Lelouch shook his head and pointed at Shigure, who pointed at herself in confusion. "Yoshika. Ask her about pet kidnapping!"

"Sure." Yoshika turned to Shigure. "Lelouch says that it's likely that your pets were kidnapped." She told her in their native Japanese. "I'm just guessing here, but is cat kidnapping common in your area?"

"Oh, no. Not at all." Shigure replied. "It's a major crime to kidnap a cat, especially ones with bells. Our cats are well known in the city, they work at my brother's shop."

"Your brother's shop?"

"He runs a pastry shop in the city. The girls work as waitresses there. He was the last to see them."

"Cat kidnapping is rare." Yoshika responded to Lelouch. "But we might have a lead." She turned back to Shigure and smiled. "Don't worry, we'll find them."

"Please do. Ooohhh! They're likely so scared, lost out there." Shigure was on the verge of tears. Patting her head, Yoshika turned to Van and Lelouch. "Shigure's brother owns a pastry shop in the city. He was the last to see them. I suppose he might know more."

"Alright!" Lelouch pumped a fist in the air. "We're getting somewhere! Quickly, we have no time to lose! To the city!" Having hastily left Shigure's home without asking her where her brother's shop was, the three wasted nearly two hours wandering around before finally finding the damn place. On the way they passed by other cats, bells around their necks, going about their business. Van found it weird that Yoshika and Lelouch didn't find any of this creepy; he certainly found it creepy. Upon finding and entering the pastry ship, they were greeted by a young man wearing the clothes of a chef. Shigure's older brother Kashou.

"There you are!" He greeted the three in English, although it was heavily accented "My sister said you were coming. You're the ones my father hired?"

"Yes." Lelouch answered for the group, not bothering to apologize for being late because he dragged the others out of the house before they could ask for directions. At least Van knew who hired them now. "We want to ask you a few questions, since you were the last to see them."

"Of course." He nodded. "Here, take a seat please. I'll make some drinks and prepare some snacks."

"Thank you." Lelouch replied, finding a table with four seats for his group and Kashou. Not that there was much competition, the bakery was empty. Once they were seated, he returned from the back with a tray of tea and sweets. "You were the last to see them, is that correct?" Lelouch got straight to the point.

"Yes."

"Care to explain the day?"

"It was a weekend." Kashou began, looking somberly at his tea. "We were closing up shop. They all were working that weekend, helping. Shigure needed them after work for something, I forgot what. Chocola and Vanilla decided to go with them and that was the last I saw of them." He sighed and sipped his tea. Lelouch nodded in reply.

"Did they have anything on them? Cellphone perhaps?" He asked.

"Maple carried one. I tried calling her, but she didn't pick up."

"Do you know what route they normally take? Maybe we can find clues there." Kashou folded his arms and closed his eyes.

"The police said they would look, but I don't think they did. So yes, I can show you the path they took. We can leave now if you want."

"Before we do, did any of them know how to write?" Lelouch asked. "Did they leave a note?"

"No, they didn't run away. I checked." Kashou admitted.

"Well then, let's go." Lelouch replied, almost like a demand. After locking up the shop, he took the three along the paths that their cats would normally take. For the most part it was uninteresting and following paths with plenty of foot traffic, but something caught Lelouch's eye; it was a back alley in a residential area that ended in a two-way path. "Hey." He said, the others stopping. "Could they have gone down here?"

"I don't think so." Kashou shook his head.

"Could be a shortcut." Lelouch replied, abandoning the others and heading down the path himself. Stopping at the end of the alley where the paths branched to the left or right, he saw that the right path ended at a road and sidewalk while the left path entered a maze of alleys. "So, I was right." He mumbled to himself as the others caught up. "Looks like they were being followed." He announced aloud to the group. "They must've sensed someone was stalking them and took a detour through here. But whoever grabbed them must have predicted this, so set someone over there." He pointed to the right. "So, they were pushed inward here and grabbed. Yoshika… you whose name I don't know. Ask the residents if they saw anything or heard anything. Van, you and I will start looking around here. Keep your eyes peeled on anything that looks out of place."

"Right." The group replied, following through with what Lelouch had said. He seemed to exhibit much more confidence and authority than usual, which gave Van the feeling he might be onto something. Still something bizarre, because it's Lelouch, but hey a lead is a lead. At first the two didn't find anything, until Lelouch decided to dig in a trashcan and pulled out a smashed pink cellphone.

"Bingo." He said, tossing the broken phone to Van. "Look what I found."

"A piece of junk?"

"A broken cellphone." Van looked at it and cocked an eyebrow. He's seen cellphones, they were giant and bulky. They didn't have screens or were this thin. "Looks like it was smashed." Lelouch stated the obvious. After their find the two met up with Yoshika and Kashou, who heard from one resident that they saw a group of cats come down the alleyway followed by two men shortly after. Kashou also confirmed the smashed cellphone was Maple's, meaning that Lelouch was partially right. The girls were kidnapped.

Regrouping back at the bakery, the first thing Lelouch went to was Kashou's computer. Or more correctly he let Kashou on the computer and barked orders to him.

"Say, Van." Yoshika asked. "What's a computer?"

"It's…" Van paused, trying to explain to her what a computer was. Shouldn't she know what it was? Then again that flat, smashed thing was a cellphone so maybe Yoshika's world wasn't at the technological level of Van's world. Which made Van quite concerned about this world and Lelouch's. There wasn't any flying cars or trains as far as he could see, but if they could master making cellphones thin then anything was possible. He decided he'd save the questioning for later. "I'll let Lelouch explain it later. He's better at it."

"Right." She nodded her head.

"Say, Lelouch, what are you checking?" Van asked, hoping to do something more than standing around.

"Right now, I helped Kashou find extensions to get onto the darkweb and we're currently running a program that looks for specific keywords and phrases. I'm trying to find us any places that serve trafficking purposes. Some results are coming up but they're old." Lelouch explained.

"OK." Van replied, not understanding a single word Lelouch just said.

"Hang on, think we found something." Lelouch leaned over Kashou's shoulder.

"If you like you can use the computer." Kashou said.

"I can't use Japanese keyboards, sorry." Lelouch explained. "I can casually speak Japanese at best."

"I understand. And reading?"

"Not good." Lelouch replied, pointing at the screen. "But that house might be something to look into. What does the text say next to it?"

"Um, that rich people go here often and leave with cats." He bit his lip. "There's more but it's very vulgar."

"Now's not the time to be timid." Lelouch explained. Kashou cleaned his throat.

"I'll try to explain in English as best as I can. It says, this is where old fat rich men go to have dirty sex with kidnapped girls, idols, and cats." Clearly there was Japanese slang that needed some work to come across coherently in English.

"Seems to be our place then." Van folded his arms. "You were right about something. They were kidnapped. Don't think it's an inter-dimensional cat girl sex trafficking ring. But it's human trafficking. And cat trafficking." Kashou became pale in the face, his legs trembling. The thought of his beloved pets, being abused, violated. Poor Cacao. Well, maybe Cinnamon was happy. That was the only solace he could take from that. "Any idea where this building would be?" Van asked.

"No." Kashou sadly shook his head.

"Reverse image search that picture." Lelouch pointed to the screen. Kashou nodded, not thinking about using a reverse image search, and did what Lelouch had told him. After some fiddling, he found the location of the house.

"It's not too far from here." He said.

"Good." Lelouch stopped leaning over his shoulder, although he gave him one friendly pat on the shoulder. "Then we have no time to waste. We'll need two silenced pistols, two EMT outfits, an ambulance, and a flamethrower." Van put his hands and index fingers together, put them to his lip, and then lowered them.

"No." He said. "Here's where we'll start. I want you to use your powers and get me the schematics of the house."

"Or I _guess_ I can just do that." Lelouch grumbled. "Give me a sec." In a blink of the eye, Lelouch vanished startling Kashou and Yoshika.

"That's how he does that? Did we do that?" Yoshika asked, Kashou had his mouth open in stunned silence.

"You get used to it." Van said, as the three waited for Lelouch's return. When he did show up, he was covered in sand. When he went to speak, sand fell out of his mouth instead of a rambling speech. Kashou, acting quickly, got him some water. After clearing his throat Lelouch let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, man. I ended up on a desert planet and nearly got eaten by a giant sand worm buried in the ground. Fucking thing had so many teeth and tentacles. Anyhow, here's the schematics." He handed the rolled-up paper to Van, who shook the sand out of it.

"Sorry." He meekly said to Kashou, as dragging sand to his house was quite rude. Unfolding the paper on a nearby table, Van began to look it over. "Seems that the basement is where the girls are kept." He pointed at the paper. "This middle room looks like the 'showroom', where the auctions would take place. Or orgies. Basically, this is a bad room. Place looks guarded, security cameras, possibly armed guards. The works."

"Wow." Yoshika added, leaning over the paper. She was a doctor, not an architect, so what she was looking at didn't make much sense. "You read all that?"

"No. Guessed it. I've done… _stuff_ in my career that required me to read over building schematics." Van answered.

"So, there's no way to save them." Kashou leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"I never said that." Van replied with a smirk, a trademark he copied from Lelouch. "You just saw what Lelouch did. We're not normal people as you may have guessed." He tapped his finger on the paper. "So, here's the plan. Yoshika, we're going to need Lynette's help."

"No! No no no!" Yoshika protested. "You put her through enough already." She already guessed what Van was planning to do with Lynette. But as the two argued, Lelouch vanished and soon returned with Lynette in tow. Lynette, in the meantime, didn't look too pleased. Instead of last time when she was a sobbing mess, she looked just about as pissed off as she possibly could.

"Yoshika-chan. _Why_ am I here?" She asked.

"I'm so… so… sorry." Yoshika dropped to her knees and began apologizing. While she was doing that, and Lelouch was looking over the schematics, Kashou pulled Van aside.

"What are you planning?"

"We're going in through the front door and Lynette is going to be bait."

"You're planning on fighting?"

"Yes." Van put his hands on Kashou shoulders. "Which is why you can't come with us. It's too dangerous. We'll get them back; you don't worry about it." Kashou nodded and shook Van's hand. With that, the plan was finalized and it, to Lelouch's disappointment, didn't involve a flamethrower and elaborate ploys. They simply rolled up to the gate in a van, which they "borrowed" and Lelouch used his Geass to get access beyond the gate. They were in, but now came the hard part.

"Alright. Ready everyone?" Van asked.

"Ready." Lelouch said, in the driver's seat with the schematics to the house.

"Ready." Yoshika said, a walkie-talkie in hand.

"I guess." Lynette sighed, her hands bound.

"Then let's go." Van hopped out of the van, dragging Lynette with him. It was nice she could apparently grow cat ears and a tail at will, something he didn't know about when asking for her help. When they got to the door, which was a nicely carved wooden door, Van began to bang on it. "Hey, I have this girl!" He spoke in very poor Japanese that Lelouch taught him on the way there. The door swung open and a thin butler with a pencil mustache arrived. His narrowed eyes looked at Van then Lynette.

"A stray, I presume." He spoke in perfect English with a British accent.

"Y-Yes. I heard I can 'drop her off' here." Van said, with a wink. The butler didn't respond, his face still emotionless.

"Very well, sir, bring her in. We will discuss payment." The butler showed them in. This was going much better than expected. The house was, as expected, huge with paintings and vases and everything else rich people stick in their houses. It was clean, but Van kept catching whiffs of sweat, human fluids, and regret. This was the place alright. Van's eyes darted around, didn't seem there were any guards or even camera, but he knew looks could be deceiving. One wrong move and a hundred dudes with machine guns could pop out of a hidden passage. He was just thankful it wasn't bad guys in Rev Raptors. That would be annoying. Finally, the two were stopped in front of another fancy door.

"I will discuss with the Master on your payment." The butler said before retreating behind the door.

"It'll be fine." Van whispered to Lynette.

"I know. Just make sure to be quick. Wanker." She added the last part under her breath. The butler arrived and handed Van a stack of bills.

"I'm sure this will suffice, sir?"

"It will." Van pocketed the money and gently pushed Lynette to the butler.

"You absolute bastard!" She screamed at Van! "I'll get you for this!"

"Yeah, yeah." Van rolled his eyes. "Annoying girl. Say, mind if I use the bathroom? Sorry, rude of me to ask I know."

"Down the hall, to your left. I'll see to her. Have a pleasant day, sir." The butler said, leading Lynette away. Van nodded and went to the bathroom. Once there, he took off his pants and unstrapped the USP pistol, extra magazines, and sound suppressor he had hidden on his legs. Loading the gun and putting on the suppressor he waited a few minutes before exiting the bathroom. He pulled out a wireless headset from his pocket and plugged it into his ear. Lynette should be with the other girls by now, and she also had a wireless headset hidden away.

"Lynette, talk to me. You there?" Van asked

"Yes. It's not far from where we were. But there are guards here. I counted about five." She replied.

"Anyone else with you?"

"A lot of people. It's a slave pen. Bloody bastards."

"Save the swearing, I'll be there." Van answered, poking his head out behind a wall. To get to the pen, he'd have to cross by the "master's" office which was likely going to be heavily guarded. But as he retreated his head behind cover, he felt the barrel of a gun pointed to his head.

"Are you lost, sir?" It was the bulter, holding a high-caliber handgun.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Van lowered his gun before turning and grabbing the barrel of the other's gun while kicking him in the shin. As he fell, he fired off a shot into the ceiling, which blew Van's cover. He didn't have time to waste, he pointed his gun at the butler's head and fired off two rounds. "Fuck, our cover's blown." Van said, changing the channel to the one in the van. And he was right, two men in black suits were heading his direction. No time like the present. Van jumped from covered and fired his gun, aiming for their bodies which jerked and twitched as they fell. They didn't seem to be wearing body armor, or if they were it was really shit one. Making his way through the halls, he was stopped at an intersection by a high concentration of fire; submachine guns. He swore and poked his head around the corner long enough for a bullet to graze past him.

"Damnit." He swore. "Not as young as I used to be, hope this works." He quickly ran to the other side of the hall, dodging a hail of gunfire and as soon as he was close to the wall he jumped out, his gun held at an angle and fired at the two guards who were reloading. Unable to fight back, they were dead before they hit the ground. Van took a moment to grab one of their weapons, an MP5, and two extra magazines. He slid in fresh mags into the new submachine gun and his own pistol and carried on. He was close. Or at least he hoped so. At the end of the new hallway was another guard, armed with an assault rifle although Van dropped him with a well-placed shot to the head before he could raise his weapon. Stepping over the body, Van kicked the door in and heard an uproar of cries. In the dark, dingy basement below him there were eyes looking back at him. There were girls, seemingly over a hundred. They were starved, their clothes and hair in a mess.

"Lelouch. We have a problem."

"Shoot."

"I just found… a lot of girls."

"How many?"

"Maybe over a hundred."

"We're not going to have space in the van, Van." Van rubbed his face but knew he didn't have long to be emotional. "Go to Plan B?"

"Plan B." Van responded before calling out Lynette's name.

"Here!" She raised her voice and ran over to Van. "There are even more girls here. They're kept in different pens."

"You were told that?"

"I asked." She paused. "Thanks to being with Yoshika, I can speak some Japanese."

"Wonderful. Can you use a gun?" Van asked, handing Lynette the assault rifle from the fallen guard.

"Yes. I used to be in the military. I'd rather not hurt someone." She pulled out the magazine to check its capacity, then cocked the weapon to eject the round in the chamber which she caught, pushed it back into the magazine and loaded the weapon. "But I can make an exception."

"Can any of them fight?" He pointed to the girls in the basement.

"No. Even if they could they're in no shape _to_ fight" She shook her head.

"Shit. Alright, we're going to get them out."

"Let's do it." Calling out in Japanese, Lynette directed the girls to follow them. They were going to free them. A small cheer erupted, the more able-bodied helping weaker captives out of the dingy pen. At the same time, this put Lynette and Van at a disadvantage. They had well over a hundred people following them through narrow halls. Either it was going to be a trek to freedom or a bloodbath.

"Hey. Sorry about, ya know, everything." Van said to Lynette as they made their escape. Casual conversation always soothed his nerves.

"Don't apologize. You helped me. Not in the way _I_ wanted. Sorry that I was so emotional."

"I don't blame you." Van replied as the two stopped in their tracks. In front of them were six men armed with assault rifles and body armor, a lady in a silky red dress behind them. She had long blonde hair and held a fan in front of her face while holding an M4 assault rifle in her other hand.

"So, you are the troublesome two." She said in perfect English. "And you killed my beloved Jarvis. I really liked him."

"Put your guns down. You don't want to hit your merchandise after all." Van replied.

"Hmph." She replied, fanning herself. "I can always get more girls. Another butler. More guards." She closed her fan and pointed it at Van, revealing her scarred face. "No, I have clients coming tonight and you're trying to run away with some of my best girls! I will not stand for it!" The guards raised their weapons and cocked them in unison. "Well, maybe I can break in those new cats. Oh well, kill them. _All_." Before they could open fire, one of the men let out a scream as he was gunned down. Behind them was Yoshika and Lelouch, pistols trained on the hostiles. Lelouch shot one guard in the leg to drop him before shooting him squarely in the face. Meanwhile Yoshika nailed one guard straight in the groin and then the head. In the confusion Lynette took the opportunity to squeeze the trigger of her rifle and gunned down two men all by herself while Van was able to fire a round right through the last man's head.

The lady, seeing her guards killed before her in a matter of seconds tried to fire her weapon at Van but was gunned down from all sides, collapsing into a bloody heap upon the floor.

"Thanks." Van nodded at Lelouch as the two groups met in the middle.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Holy crap, I killed people." Lynette said.

"Same." Yoshika added. After the awkward pause, the four went right to work. The mansion was seemingly empty save the over three hundred girls holed up in three different pens, but it seemed that the "master" and her men were dead and anyone else likely left the moment shooting started. The front lawn was soon filled with girls, way too many to fit inside the van the group came in.

"I just talked to the police." Yoshika tossed a cellphone taken off one of the guards back to Lelouch. She had no clue how to work it, but she knew how to talk on the phone at least. "They'll be here soon. Any luck on our cats?"

"Van and Lynette are checking." He replied. "So, I knew you two were ex-military but…"

"Didn't expect us to kill people?" She asked. "We were taught how to defend ourselves. I don't exactly like it, and you're going to give Lynne more nightmares on top of the ones you already gave her." She paused, handing Lelouch the pistol he lent her. "But those guys deserved it."

"I'm glad we're in agreement." Lelouch replied, as just then Van and Lynette returned with the seven cats in tow.

"We found them." Van said with a sigh. "They're a bit roughed up. I…"

"I know." Yoshika said, turning to the seven and speaking to them in Japanese. "Chocola. Vanilla. Coconut. Azuki. Maple. Cinnamon. Cacao." She called out. Azuki, the second-smallest of the cats, was the one that answered.

"That's us. Who are you?" She asked. Clearly, she was putting on a brave face even though she was likely scared beyond belief.

"I'm Yoshika. These are my friends. We're the ones who freed you. Is everyone OK?"

"Nuts has some head trauma. We're shaken up but OK."

"I'm a doctor. Can I see?" She asked. Azuki nodded and showed her to the largest of the cats, Coconut. The left side of her face had a massive scab.

"Mind telling me what happened?" Yoshika gently asked, checking her head for anymore injuries. Coconut was quiet. "Well, looks like a minor wound. It's healing so I won't touch it." She turned her attention to Azuki. "Can _you_ tell me what happened?"

"W-We were walking home when Nuts." That must mean Coconut. "Noticed someone was following us. So, we took an alley and then some guys grabbed us before we could call for help. Next thing you know we were all locked up in this basement. We were told that… well… we had to have sex with people if we wanted food. Nuts at one point hit one of the guys and he punched her so hard in the face she started bleeding. W-We… were so scared!" At this point Azuki broke and collapsed to her knees crying, the other girls doing the same. Yoshika couldn't blame them.

"I sorta feel bad for what we did." Lelouch said to Van, watching Yoshika and Lynette trying to comfort the girls. "Kidnapping Lynette I mean. To think that if we were the bad guys..."

"Her family likely thinks she's dead or worse."

"I feel like the bad guy, Van."

"Same." Van sighed.

"Feel bad about killing people?" Lelouch changed the subject.

"Fuck _no_. They deserved it." He put his hands on his hips. "Well, let's get them back. And before authorities start questioning us."

"Right. Right." Lelouch replied, calling out for Yoshika and Lynette to get the girls in the van. Which was _slightly_ hard to do, the young Cacao having to be dragged into the van as she stood at the entrance trembling. But soon enough they were back at Kashou's bakery, with Kashou and Shigure overjoyed that their pets were alive and well.

"So, they were kidnapped for a sex ring." Kashou said, alone from the girls which was rather hard to do given Chocola and Vanilla were glued to him.

"Yeah. They weren't touched but all the other girls… not as lucky." Van replied.

"There are some… sick people out there." Kashou tried to find the words to say.

"Which is why we're here." Van smiled. "Don't feel bad, you were a brave. You and your sister."

"I could have done more." He sighed and lowered his head. "I could have helped."

"You did. What? Did you want to go in there, guns blazing? You'd end up dead. You do what you do, and we do what we do." He patted Kashou on the shoulder.

"If there is anything, I can do for you, let me know." Kashou collapsed to his knees and bowed.

"Please don't do _that_." Van said.

"Actually, could we get a cake?" Lelouch chimed in. "One to go. I heard you make the best cakes around?" Kashou got to his feet and smiled. "I will. I'll make a new recipe. To you all! The people that saved my cats!" Although Van found the concept of owning cat girls still weird, he had to admit Kashou made a damn fine cake. With their job done, the four returned to Yoshika's clinic, Lelouch having to vomit after the stress of using his Geass for four people. There they enjoyed the special cake.

"I'm shocked you turned down the reward for the job." Yoshika said, having finished off her dessert.

"It didn't feel right to take it." Lelouch said. "It became more than a missing cat situation."

"Sorry it wasn't inter-dimensional stuff like you wanted." Van added.

"It's fine. I'm just glad we did something good. And not… ya know, _kidnap_ anyone."

"Say." Lynette asked. "What's with those bags?" She pointed to a pile of duffel bags in the corner of the room.

"Oh." Van began. "That's all the money and valuables we found in the mansion." Lynette and Yoshika both stared at Van, and then Lelouch. "What? We all agree she was a bad person. Taking her stuff was fair."

"Yeah." Lelouch added. "Completely fair."

"So, we went looking for missing pet cat-girls, found a sex trafficking ring, killed everyone, and then robbed them?" Yoshika asked to confirm the events of the past two days."

"Correct." Lelouch replied.

"I've only known you two for less than a few weeks but I'm already catching your awfulness."

"You get used to it." Van replied. "Anyhow, I better go. Lelouch can you take me home? I also want my wife and son to have some of this cake."

"Su..." Lelouch stopped. "You have _a son_?"

"Yeah." Van shrugged. "No one asks. What do you want me to do? Spill my entire life story?"

* * *

Kashou was about to close shop when the bell dinged, and two men walked in. One of them was a tall, bald man with a goatee, wearing a dark trench coat and the other had a bored expression on his face with an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. The second man looked completely average, unlike his partner, save the wide-brimmed hat he wore.

"Hello." The bald man greeted Chocola and Vanilla in completely fluent Japanese. "Is your owner here?" The two girls looked at each other and shuddered a bit but pulled Kashou from the back. "Hello." He said, sticking his hand out to Kashou who took it reluctantly. "My name is Dmitri, my friend here is Ricky." He pointed to the man with the bored look. "Have you seen this man?" Dmitri pulled out a picture from his pocket; a picture of Lelouch in some strange, almost royal-looking clothing.

"Yes. He and his friends were just here. They helped me save my cats." He rubbed Chocola and Vanilla's heads, who were clinging behind him along with Cacao.

"Friends? Hmmm. That's good. I'm sorry to bother you, I just had to know." Dmitri replied. "We'll take two of those before we go." He pointed at two small cakes in the display. The transaction went fine, and the two men left, leaving Kahsou with conflicting feelings.

"So. Friends." Dmitri spoke to Ricky as the two sat on a park bench eating their cakes. "What do you think?"

"Couldn't be any of his old friends, Boss." He replied, eating his cake without taking the cigarette from his mouth. "For obvious reasons."

"Which means he's finding allies." Dmitri licked his lips and bent over, pulling out the picture and looking at it once again. "Lelouch Vi Britannia, just what are you planning?"


End file.
